The Ebay Thread

[shriekingeel]

From a seller's point of view, unless the item is brand new and I have multiples of it, I tend to withhold feedback until after the buyer leaves it. Otherwise you're totally at the mercy of the buyer, who may or may not be a reasonable person. Otherwise, the buyer can leave a negative for the slightest perceived infraction, whether it's within the seller's control or not, leaving the seller with no recourse.

Withholding feedback is the only leverage the seller has.

Accordingly, I never demand or require that the buyer leave feedback; In general, haranguing emails demanding feedback are annoying and tacky.

[shawnalanne]

livingfortheweeken said:

Here's a link to a site where you can find all of an Ebayers negative and neutral feedback.

The link goes to a microsoft page.

[Deleted]

That was weird, but I just put the URL in my post. Thanks, ShawnaLanne.

[welshcorgigirl]

I'm in a bind with a seller. I sent a check which was cashed about 2 and a half weeks ago, and I haven't gotten a package. She's not answering emails, even though I have started a dispute a long time ago. And now, eBay is telling me that basically since my final bid was worth chump change, (in the eyes of eBay) they won't give me a credit. What's even worse, my bank is telling me that since the check was cashed already, I can't get my money back. Is there really nothing I can do, or does my bank not know what the hell it's talking about?

[Sunnyhorse]

I've got a problem I'm not sure how to handle. I bought a saddle for my niece, who requires a 15-inch seat. The saddle was billed as a 15-inch, but when it arrived, I found that it was a 16.5 -- the same size I ride in and far too large for a little girl. I e-mailed the seller, told her nicely that the saddle had been mismeasured, told her I'd UPS it back on Tuesday, and asked to have my return shipping reimbursed "in addition to the other costs of the saddle" (assuming that she'd understand that I wanted my original shipping refunded in addition to the purchase price). She replied nicely this morning that she was at fault for the measurement goof, refunded $100 of the purchase price ($182) through PayPal immediately, and said that she'd refund the remainder of the saddle's cost, in addition to my return shipping, on receipt of the saddle. No mention of the original shipping, however. How do I bring this up diplomatically? I wouldn't have bid on the saddle in the first place if it had been measured and advertised correctly, so I don't think I should have to eat the shipping, but the seller has been very nice and I don't want to stir up a hornet's nest over $15. What to do?

[kanding]

Sunnyhorse, I'm beginning to think that buying and selling saddles on ebay is cursed (more later). However, it seems like the seller is a reasonable person and most likely overlooked the original shipping cost when she calculated the remainder of what she owes you. I would send her a message thanking her for the money that she has already reimbursed you and her promptness in doing so and then mention the additional $15. She's looking for decent feedback and I don't think that she will want to risk that for a relatively small amount of money, especially when she's at fault.

Good luck.

My ebay/saddle nightmare: You might remember me back from page one on this thread. I'd sold a saddle through ebay, received payment, shipped the saddle and then found out that Paypal had sent the payment back to the buyer due to a problem dealing with foreign banks. I wrote and explained the situation to the buyer and didn't get a response. That was how I left it in the thread.

Well, I waited a few weeks after sending the message and finally called the woman after tracking down her number at her university. I left a pleasant voice mail and received an e-mail message in response saying that there was no problem and she would send a personal check to my sister in the States as I had requested. A month passed and no check. I called again and this time reached her personally. She apologized, but she'd had an accident which resulted in a broken arm and completely forgot to send the check. She assured me that it would go in the mail after the weekend. She was incredibly pleasant and I hung up feeling torn between guilt for my lack of faith and relief that it looked like I would finally see the money.

Two weeks later, no check. Now I've got my sister on it as she's the one to receive the check and, since she's in the States, calling the buyer is a lot less expensive. She called two days before Christmas and left a voice mail stating that the buyer has now had the saddle for three months and we were still waiting for payment. So far, no response, but then again, it's the holidays. But then, the buyer's permanent home and school address are in the same town, so I doubt that wouldn't check her voice mail for a week.

This is how I go back and forth on this. So what do you think? Will I see money on this (Say yes, say yes, pleeease!)?

[Sunnyhorse]

I did wonder what had ever happened with your saddle, Kanding -- how frustrating for you! (I can only hope that the "buyer" broke her arm falling out of your saddle, which would serve her right for stringing you along.) I'd say that if your sister doesn't get a response soon and eBay and PayPal refuse to help, you need to send a registered letter and follow it up with a letter from an attorney informing her that you'll be calling the police or taking her to court if she doesn't pay up -- we're not talking about my beat-up $182 saddle here!

[needsaname]

So, quick question. What's considered a "good" rating for an eBay user? Most of the users' ratings that I've seen are decently high (like, mid nineties), so I'm figuring that the standards must be different that what I'm thinking of.

[pepper67]

What's considered a "good" rating for an eBay user? Most of the users' ratings that I've seen are decently high (like, mid nineties), so I'm figuring that the standards must be different that what I'm thinking of.

needsaname, I prefer to buy from sellers whose rating is 99.0% and above, depending on how much feedback they've got. If they're only got 10 feedbacks, and one of those is negative, I'll consider it. If they've got feedback in the thousands, and lots of them are negative, it's extremely unlikely I'll trust them with my money.

[lpatrice]

I really don't care for Ebay, but I love the sister site Half.com. You can find stuff super cheap, well books, cds', movies, textbooks, etc. and you don't have to go through the hassle of bidding. I have yet to have a negative experience when buying from a seller at half.com, and the rules state that the seller must ship the item within 3 business days of the purchase, which generally means speedy delivery.